I noticed this sign while on a walk.
It is against HOA rules to even have a small feeder for song birds. It's because the seed inevitably gets spilled on the ground and it attracts pesky rats and other critters one doesn't want hanging around.
A man down the street used to regularly feed a great white egret. The egret often stomped around on my roof while waiting for the food to appear down the street. It is amazing how aggressive some of those large birds can get if you feed them. They have been known to go through window screens to remind you if you have started this bad habit.
They say raccoons never forget a previous source of food. And I don't mind a glimpse of an alligator from a distance, but I definitely will leave them their privacy at dinner time.
There is no poop fairy.
But here is a kind of gross story. I had a friend who had a very cantankerous father who pitched a fit if he saw a dog pooping on his lawn. For a while he was seen walking around the immediate neighborhood with a bottle of some murky liquid and a turkey baster. He would cover the offending poop with the liquid and the next day -- no poop in sight! It turned out to be bacon grease in that bottle. Ewww. Dogs will eat most anything with bacon flavor on it.
Coincidentally, I saw this article in The Washington Post today.
I have fed song birds for decades and have no rats or other pesky critters around. Sunflowers do sprout from spilled bird feeder seeds, and I like to see the sunflowers grow. It makes sense not to feed alligators for safety reasons, of course.
ReplyDeleteOK, the bacon grease/dogs eating poop is disgusting, and now I'm wondering if I am being chastised for feeding songbirds. We do have a bit of spillage from the sunflower chips, but the ground birds clean that up. We have rats even when we didn't feed the birds. We did stop feeding them when our cat learned to sit on the porch and pick off the ground birds. Our bird feeder was also a cat feeder. Now that the cat is gone, we are enjoying the birds again.
ReplyDeleteWe seem to be feeding raccoons too, but not intentionally. :-(
Many people love watching the birds that come to the feeder, generally squirrels are a pest but also fun to watch, I've never heard of a rat problem, but in some places that could be an issue and yes, stop feeding. I also know that sometimes small hawks will hang around feeders to grab a quick song bird for themselves.
ReplyDeleteBacon grease on the dog poop...just ewww, but people do need to clean up after their pets.
Hawaii's law states that dog poop must be picked up in a plastic bag by the dog's owner. As for feeding the birds, that's against the law, too.
ReplyDeleteThe only birds I feed are humming birds.
ReplyDeleteAs for dog poo, thankfully my dog doesn't eat it. That man I hope got his karma. That was a horrible thing to do.
Very rude not cleaning up after your dog. Can you imagine the breath on the gobbling dog plus the germs and worms he ingested? I'd probably confront the person while offering a plastic bag while it is happening.
ReplyDeleteThis takes feeding animals to a whole new level. While we think, sweet little (whatever) it is true they need to stay with their natural feeding habits. Egret story is incredible. I had no idea.
ReplyDeleteThat is pretty much disgusting! I'm just glad we don't have neighbours!
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